Carbon/Silicon Heterojunction Solar Cells: State of the Art and Prospects

In the last few decades, advances and breakthroughs of carbon materials have been witnessed in both scientific fundamentals and potential applications. The combination of carbon materials with traditional silicon semiconductors to fabricate solar cells has been a promising field of carbon science. T...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Advanced materials (Weinheim) 2015-11, Vol.27 (42), p.6549-6574
Main Authors: Li, Xinming, Lv, Zheng, Zhu, Hongwei
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Carbon
carbon nanotubes
fullerene
Graphene
Heterojunctions
Photovoltaic cells
Semiconductors
Silicon
Solar cells
State of the art
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:In the last few decades, advances and breakthroughs of carbon materials have been witnessed in both scientific fundamentals and potential applications. The combination of carbon materials with traditional silicon semiconductors to fabricate solar cells has been a promising field of carbon science. The power conversion efficiency has reached 15–17% with an astonishing speed, and the diversity of systems stimulates interest in further research. Here, the historical development and state‐of‐the‐art carbon/silicon heterojunction solar cells are covered. Firstly, the basic concept and mechanism of carbon/silicon solar cells are introduced with a specific focus on solar cells assembled with carbon nanotubes and graphene due to their unique structures and properties. Then, several key technologies with special electrical and optical designs are introduced to improve the cell performance, such as chemical doping, interface passivation, anti‐reflection coatings, and textured surfaces. Finally, potential pathways and opportunities based on the carbon/silicon heterojunction are envisaged. The aspects discussed here may enable researchers to better understand the photovoltaic effect of carbon/silicon heterojunctions and to optimize the design of graphene‐based photodevices for a wide range of applications. The state of the art of carbon/silicon heterojunction solar cells is presented comprehensively and potential pathways and opportunities based on this hetero­junction are proposed. Promoted by theor­etical and technological approaches, carbon/silicon heterojunctions are considered to be promising in the optoelectronics and energy fields.
ISSN:0935-9648
1521-4095
DOI:10.1002/adma.201502999